Spate of state actions worries abortion-rights advocates, divides lawmakers

The advocates fear that a recent spate of measures, including one recently approved by lawmakers in Alabama, could roll back availability of abortions, while a debate in Virginia on the issue opens a chasm among lawmakers.

Los Angeles Times: Alabama Legislature OKs Abortion Limits; Kansas Clinic Reopens
Alabama this week moved to tighten the regulation of clinics and of medical personnel who perform abortions, the latest step in what abortion rights advocates argue is a campaign to use the regulatory power of government to limit a woman's right to an abortion. … Meanwhile, a Kansas abortion clinic that closed in 2009 after one of its doctors was murdered by an anti-abortion activist, reopened this week. The Wichita clinic has been closed since Dr. George Tiller was slain in a church in May 2009 (Muskal, 4/4).

The Washington Post: Abortion Debate Riles Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly's decision Wednesday to prohibit insurers from offering abortion coverage in federally managed health-insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act has reopened an emotional debate along familiar partisan divides. But members of both parties agree that the measure's biggest impact will likely fall along class lines, landing hardest on some of the people the federal health care overhaul was designed to help: working women who barely get by on their incomes (Kunkle, 4/4).

And in Texas, an agreement on funding for women's health emerges --

The Texas Tribune: In Bipartisan Truce, House Members Pulling Amendments
While the Texas House began working through 267 amendments on the proposed budget Thursday morning, Democratic and Republican House members confirmed that potentially divisive amendments related to funding for women's health are being withdrawn as part of a bipartisan truce (Batheja, 4/4).